


ARS CAELUM

by CodeBreaker



Category: Original Work
Genre: Dark Fantasy, Fantasy, Lore Building, Original Mythology, Worldbuilding, zodiacs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:42:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27666278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CodeBreaker/pseuds/CodeBreaker
Summary: stars were never made to become mortal; they die faster that way





	ARS CAELUM

**ACT I** ( RISE ): _they are stars made mortal; constellations in human bodies. they are the products of wishes turned dark, of wishes that were given too much power. this is the story of how they meet; this is the story of how they lose themselves_

* * *

It rained the day Roxas fell; he crashed with the lightning and awoke to soft rain.

He vaguely remembered just laying there, eyes fixed on dark grey clouds, and watching the rain gently fall around him. The sounds of the forest around him were drowned out by the gentle sounds of rainfall and thunder; there was a stillness that was serene and calm, there was a sense of time moving slowly around him as the clouds slowly moved past above him, carrying with it the rain and promises of rain to places far from here. 

The rain eventually passed and he eventually ventured into the surrounding forest, eyes wandering and full of wonder, reflecting the stars in the sky above, the very place he was born; the earth below his feet was a foreign feeling yet so familiar. He was not of this plane, not born into this world like everything else but that did not stop him from wondering all the same.

He knew his own name; most stars did, given names by the people who dared to whisper stories about them. His existence was weaved intricately by the civilizations that lived on the very earth he now walked upon. 

Upon stumbling across a well-traveled path, more akin to a road than a footpath, Roxas did not hesitate to pick a random direction and set off; he simply did not know this place well enough to know where he was headed and even if he had, it was not as if he had any single destination in mind. 

For hours, he was alone, accompanied only by birds and woodland creatures. But he hardly minded, for he was used to the feeling; loneliness was never an issue when you were surrounded by stars and the whispers of empires who worshipped you and the gods who created you.

His eyes followed the horizon before being drawn upwards, towards the beating of wings that sounded with the drumming of thunder. A dragon swooped low overhead, riding on feathery wings that sounded to the beat of thunder and drums. Its feathers shifted in shades of blue and green under the light but scales lined the underside of its wings, frayed with years of being beat with hurricane winds, gifted with the appearance of fur. With his attention so transfixed on the creature who rode the wind, he missed the panicked traveler whose eyes were drawn upward on the same creature; to say they collided would be too obvious a statement. 

The world tilted for a moment, the nauseating feeling as he collided with the ground was enough to throw everything off-kilter. It took a moment before everything righted itself, balancing itself out but his head took a few seconds longer before it stopped spinning. But the feeling slowly faded as soon as he sat up, a soft sigh escaping his lips as he brought up a hand, digging the heel of his palm into his eye as if that would do anything to ease the spinning.

The stranger, seemingly in a very similar situation as himself, groaned quietly. Roxas took that moment to examine him; he didn't seem much older than himself, brown-haired and almost puppy-eyed if puppies saw the kind of stuff they weren't supposed to see. He swept his gaze up and met Roxas' eyes; they shifted under the light that filtered through clouds that lazily drifted along. But he couldn't be sure; it hardly mattered to him at the end anyway.

"What the fuck, dude?" he muttered, but it almost seemed more to be directed to himself than to Roxas. Absolutely nothing about him felt threatening in the least, so he did not feel the need to keep his guard up; he really needed to practice his sense of caution though, despite what he may think in this situation, his lack thereof may very well get him killed one day.

But until that day comes, he could care less just how much or how little caution he practiced.

"Sorry 'bout that," Roxas said, quietly and drawing out his words almost lazily. The other boy looked at him, almost scrutinizing and with an odd expression on his face. Part of him thought he had surely said something wrong but in his mind, he knew he hadn't. 

That would've been ridiculous, at best.

"You saw that too?" was what he got for a reply, to which the only response Roxas could think of was to give him a confused look that bordered on exasperation. He liked to think his eyesight wasn't that bad as to miss an entire dragon.

"What? The dragon?" He instinctively gazed upwards, almost as if it were still there, soaring right above their heads and among the clouds and the birds, "A creature of that size would be incredibly difficult to miss."

A soft snort was all he got in reply, one of mild amusement and just bordering on offense as if he took Roxas' sarcasm to be close enough to insult. Not that he meant it to be that way. He never did.

"I'm Ross, by the way." 

Roxas finally turned his gaze back down and was somehow unsurprised when he found the other boy already on his feet. It took him a moment before he mustered up the energy to stand up (not that he lacked it, it was more that standing up meant more walking; he wasn't entirely too enthusiastic about the idea after having been sitting for the last few minutes).

"Roxas." He hummed out softly, watching as Ross stretched almost cat-like in his motions; the grin he wore was almost the same, there was almost a feline quality to the way he held himself in that very moment. There was no sense of urgency, though something in Roxas' gut told him otherwise; perhaps it was the near-manic look in his eyes that was carefully veiled behind his seemingly carefree demeanor.

But he digressed; that was none of his business, and part of him knew he probably should not be making it his business. Besides, they just met, he wasn't going to pry into someone's personal affairs mere minutes after first meeting them.

(The small voice in his head told him he did not have the luxury of making that choice himself but he wanted to bathe in the illusion of freedom for a while longer; maybe for a while, he could pretend as if the stars did not dictate his future.) 

"You wanna come with?" 

Roxas simply gave him an odd look, the bewilderment must've shown on his face so clearly that it elicited laughter from Ross. It was this moment that he realized that he probably didn't care so much about asking a stranger to join him on whatever adventure he decided he'd go on; though, part of him was glad for it. He wouldn't have said no, he knew that much; it was better than being alone, he supposed.

Ross' eyes sparkled in the light of the sun, reflecting in shades of green with tinges of purple; it was almost like staring into a kaleidoscope, watching the colours and shapes collide to make something much more complicated. It made something that Roxas could only describe to be similar to that of a puzzle; one that was never meant to be solved and part of him figured Ross did not want to be solved.

But that was just mere speculation on his part; that was a lot to assume of someone he just met.

"Come with? Where to?" 

Ross simply shrugged in response; he didn't have a destination in mind. Part of him did not mind that so much.

"Alright, let's go then."

The decision was impulsive, at best; there was no reason to go along with it but Ross hadn't given him any reason to be suspicious or mistrustful. He just got a feeling, and he's long learned to trust gut feelings.

* * *

They first arrived at a town, small enough to be able to pass through within the day but big enough to be marked on a map. 

Which, Roxas had quickly learned, Ross did not or could not read a map very well. Nor was he very good at directions. It didn't help matters that Roxas hadn't been much better, but in his defense, he didn't know where they were going (which is to say, they didn't have a destination, so ultimately, it hardly mattered). 

They stopped in the town market and while he wasn't acutely aware of the way the economy in the region worked, seeing as each region seemed to differ in their economic affairs, he knew at the very least they needed something to use in exchange for what they were planning to get.

But Ross was not short on _stuff_ , that is to say, he had all sorts of random junk in his bag; which, realistically was not actually junk at all, but they all seemed so out of place in regards to each other and so random in their form and purpose that it was difficult to tell where or how Ross had acquired any of it. Or even _why_ he had any of it in the first place.

Roxas simply watched as he traipsed around the market, chatting up a storm with anyone who was willing to listen to him ramble on about some wild tale of beasts and monsters. His own eyes wandered, examining the people as he stood off to the side and waited for his travel companion (however temporary or permanent this arrangement may have been) to finish whatever business he had set out to do.

The difference between the people who resided here permanently and passersby were stark; the residents wore flowy clothes in shades of pink and purple and orange, decorated in jewels that reflect the light like stars. They had dark hair they often kept short; those that chose to grow it out typically braided it or tied it up into a bun. 

People who passed through looked different if only by what they wore and how they carried themselves.

"Alright, I got what I needed. Let's head out," Ross almost seemed jittery but hid it well behind his cheery mask. But he couldn't hid the slight edge in his voice, like a cat about to pounce.

He didn't pry; in a place so crowded, prying would be unwise. He didn't want to cause a scene.

"Let's go then," he said, grabbing him by the wrist and walking off in a direction with enough conviction and leaving little time in between for Ross to argue with where they were going.

It was already late afternoon, the sky already tinging with darker shades of orange that warned of the sun's exit, a telltale sign that night wasn't too far away. It didn't take long for them to duck into a hotel of sorts; the exhausted-looking receptionist only glanced at them before throwing them a set of keys and gave them both a look that said ' _this stays between us_ '. 

Despite the questionable behavior, Roxas didn't question it; he was grateful for it. He eyed the numbers etched into the key: 106, a room that was at the end of the hall to their left. He hadn't meant to all but toss Ross like a ragdoll onto one of the beds, nor had he meant to seem so panicked for no reason. 

But the entire way here, he couldn't shake the feeling of being watched, of being followed. It was sending shivers down his spine; he would not have minded if the anxiety in his gut didn't feel like a dying star that was collapsing in on itself all the while exploding in nuclear energy; it burned and seethed in ways that differed from anger in all the ways it lingered.

Outside, across the street, a hooded figure stared for a moment before turning their gaze upwards toward the stars; above all of them, meteors shot across the sky in streaks of icy fire.


End file.
